Nogdorf marked a cedar tree, while Lester was doing a Mystic Hop for a patch of herbs. He did the same hop he had before and again produced yellow, white and purple sparkles. They floated over to each of the herb plants and settled on them and you could visibly see the red stripes retreat into nothing!

  Nogdorf marked a few more plants that would fit into their timeframe and then circled back to watch Lester’s work. Lester paused and told Nogdorf he had a question. “Go on,” Nogdorf said. “I’m listening.”

  “I noticed you marked this poison hemlock. Was that a mistake? Do we want to save a poisonous plant? I would think you would be glad to get rid of something that kills creatures,” Lester asked.

  Nogdorf responded, “I understand what you mean, but if you know doses and test it first, it can be invaluable. Greeks and Arabs use it to treat joint pain, muscle spasms and tumors. I have also used it to cure arthritis, bronchitis and whooping cough. You do have to know what you are doing or you could easily poison someone, hence the name, but I think the benefits outweigh the negative in this case.

  Lester did the mystic hops for the Hemlock tree and he and Nogdorf watched in amazement as a rainbow of colors poofed into the air like fireworks going off! Reds, blues and yellows, then greens,oranges and purples! Then, they were astounded, as the pink and purple sparkles appeared last and were incredibly enough, in the shape of a cute little unicorn. “Nogdorf, this hemlock tree must be really special to merit this display,” Lester said.

  Lester continued healing trees and bushes and flowers and herbs till it was almost dark. Nogdorf stopped him and said, “You need to get home to Bonita and save the little mice, Lester. I can tell you have enjoyed the Mystic Hops, but you also need to rest up because you have more to learn tomorrow.”

  Lester gathered up Bonita’s tea fixings and took off for home. He felt the strain of his muscles in his calves and noticed it more and more the closer to home he got. He also felt weary and was ready for a good nights’ sleep. He started thinking about preparing Bonita’s tea and getting her off to bed so he could rest and not worry about her and the mice.

  The minute he entered the burrow, he wished he hadn’t. There were two of the bunnies having a food fight, with food flying everywhere. Another two of the boy rabbits were in a ring made with their mother’s yarn. They were pretending to be kangaroos, boxing each other with their hind legs. The girl bunnies were having a pillow fight with feathers in the air, everywhere. One landed on JJ’s nose, causing a big sneeze. Someone had put the smallest bunny up on the bookcase and it was teetering, ready to fall over. Lester rescued him and put him on the ground. He tearfully said, “Thanks dad.”

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  Lester just looked around at the confusion for a moment. He really wasn’t sure what to do. He wondered if this was the way the household operated all of the time while he was at work. He found Bonita, cowering in a corner and said, “Honey, what is going on?”

  She said, “The bunnies got out of control.”

  “I can see that, “ Lester said. “How did this happen and how do you suppose we get it under control?”

  “Can you put the bunnies to bed, Lester and let me have some cookies, please? Pretty please?” Bonita asked.

  Lester looked up and prayed for patience. “Guess what? I have tea for you for tonight. The cookies will be ready tomorrow. What do you think about that?”

  Bonita looked him in the eyes and said, “I have been waiting all day for my cookies and you won’t give them to me. You are a mean old husband,” and with that she ran out the door.

  Lester decided the only thing to do was to just begin. Taking care of bunnies was not his specialty, but sometimes you just have to take the bull by the horns. The first thing he did was to step between the boy boxers and get kicked by both of them. When he got up, the boys said in unison, “Sorry dad.”

  Lester had them clean up their boxing ring and the plant they had knocked over and while they were working on that, got the girl bunnies to start filling up their empty pillow cases with the errant feathers. Then the two food fight bunnies obviously had to clean the food off of the walls and the floor and off of each other. This wasn't a quick clean-up and Lester was so tired, he could barely keep his eyes open. He also had to get up really early and Bonita was gone on her nightly jaunt. Oh, how could things be so out of hand when today had been such a wonderful, productive day?

  It was almost ten o’clock when everything settled down and the last bunny was nestled in bed. Lester fell into bed without even taking off his rainbow shirt and pants and was asleep before the first sheep jumped over the fence.

  Nogdorf walked home leisurely, thinking about the day and how Lester was making such great progress. He fixed himself some leftover beef stew with garlic bread and sat down in front of the tv with a cold beer. Nogdorf turned on the TV to the Latest Forest News Broadcast and took a yummy bite. Sammy squirrel’s dad was the Walter Cronkite of the animal world. Mason Squirrel said, “It has been a few days since any beheaded mice have been found in the forest.

  It appears whoever was causing this mass murder may have left our area. Not that we would wish it on any other forest. Hold on. Breaking news is coming in as we speak. Bad break, folks. I regret to report it is happening again. Mice, beware and get inside, if you can hear this. The fiend is on the loose again.”